The sustained shared thinking and emotional well-being (SSTEW) scale is designed to consider some of the intentional and relational pedagogical strategies strongly associated with child outcomes. It considers practice that supports children aged between two and five years of age in developing skills in sustained shared thinking and emotional well-being, as well as developing strong relationships, effective communication and aspects of self-regulation. It is designed to be used for research, self-evaluation and improvement, audit and regulation.

Using the SSTEW scale alongside other environment scales (including ECERS-E, ECERS-R or ITERS-R) gives users a more complete picture of what high-quality early childhood education and care can look like. It is aspirational in that it considers high quality pedagogy and practice. It can be used by researchers, heads of centers, managers, teaching staff and practitioners, as well as advisory staff and in professional development.

Foreword by Kathy SylvaIntroductionPreparing to use the SSTEW scaleSub-scale 1: Building trust, confidence and independenceSub-scale 2: Social and emotional well-beingSub-scale 3: Supporting and extending language and communicationSub-scale 4: Supporting learning and critical thinkingSub-scale 5: Assessing learning and languageSSTEW Scale score sheetsSSTEW Scale profileSupport materials: aspects of child development relevant to the SSTEW ScaleJoint observation/inter-rater reliability for the SSTEW ScaleReferences

Iram Siraj is a Professor at the Institute of Education, University of London, and a visiting Professor at the University of Wollongong. She co-led on the Effective Pre-school, Primary, and Secondary Education (EPPSE) longitudinal study, and the highly influential Researching Effective Pedagogy in the Early Years (REPEY) study, which first developed the concept of Sustained Shared Thinking (SST). She is a co-author of the ECERS-E and has published widely on quality, pedagogy, and curriculum.

Denise Kingston is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Brighton and a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Education, University of London. She is a qualified educational psychologist and teacher and has worked as a schools psychologist and advisory teacher supporting inclusion and as a Portage supervisor and visitor. She has extensive experience of training on environment rating scales.

Edward Melhuish is a Professor at the University of Oxford and Birkbeck, University of London, and a visiting Professor at the University of Wollongong. He co-led the National Evaluation of Sure Start, the Effective Pre-school, Primary, and Secondary Education (EPPSE) project and is currently undertaking the Study of Early
Education and Development (SEED) project. His research has influenced policy on childcare, early education, child poverty, and parental support in the UK and other countries.